It had been three thousand miles, four forests, sixteen towns, and three boat rides since they'd lost Jet.
It probably would have been more practical to count the time it had been since they lost their leader, but Longshot didn't want to even think about that. It was still too close, too real. Counting the distance, marking the endless and purposeless travel seemed easier, so, that is what he did.
Longshot shook his head, trying to physically clear it of such thoughts. There wasn't room to think like that, to mourn. A wise man once said that tears only lead to more suffering. Not that Longshot put much stock in the sayings of wise men anymore…
They weren't really going anywhere, they didn't have anywhere to go. They'd heard about the collapse of Ba Sing Se, but it didn't really strike a deep chord of regret. Both of them loathed that city, and the earthbenders sworn to protect it. It seemed right that they sided with the Fire Nation in the end. Poetic was probably the word his brain was searching for.
Longshot shifted on the branch he was sitting on, willing his brain to focus on the task. The only time he and Smellerbee parted was to scavenge for food or to bathe or to go scouting. She'd gone out for food about an hour ago, leaving him back at camp. That was fine with him, he'd gone out last time. As part of their bargain, he'd stay at the camp, scouting with his eyes if he felt the need.
They'd both become a little more paranoid with Jet gone.
Smellerbee was still having trouble believing it happened. Sometimes, she'd wake up from a nightmare in the middle of the night and ask him where Jet was, why he wasn't in his sleeping bag, why he wasn't with them. It took her only a fraction of a second to realize her mistake after seeing his face. Longshot wasn't entirely sure what she saw there, never was entirely positive how much of his messages got through to anyone, but she understood in that instant. Longshot wasn't sure he wanted to know just what she saw on his face.
Longshot pushed his hat up farther from his eyes, wiping the sweat from his brow. Spirits, it was getting hotter. He wasn't sure where he was in the world, nor did he really care at this point. Unfamiliar was good. You know, unless it was a heat wave unlike anything he'd ever felt for this season.
That was when he paused, thinking through what he just though. What season was it exactly? How much time had really passed? Was he older yet? Did he miss the day he'd chosen as his birth date? Had they really been traveling for that long?
Longshot stood, knowing all the thoughts would stop once Smellerbee returned and began chatting. He hadn't said a word since that day, Smellerbee had even told him he'd gotten quieter, but she'd bounced back and kept talking and talking, filling the void that Jet had left in their group somehow. Balanced expertly on the high branch, Longshot slid two bandaged fingers into his mouth, blowing out a familiar whistle, waiting for Smellerbee's response.
He smiled at the image of Smellerbee, tracking some fearsome meat creature, scowling at his whistle, forced to blow her cover with one of her own, lest her prize be forever lost to an over anxious archer with what she called "issues with hunting boundaries". That phrase had come up when he'd burst in on "her finest kill" and put an arrow through the animal she'd been tracking. She'd scowled at him for over a week after that happened.
Jet had been good natured about it though, laughing about it, teasing Smellerbee and Longshot alike, saying they argued and fought like an old married couple…
His ears perked up instantly at a returning whistle, brain already scanning to figure out just what Smellerbee had told him to go do with himself when he realized something.
That wasn't Smellerbee's whistle.
--
Haru was confused to say the very least.
He, Teo, and the Duke (there always had to be a "the" in front of Duke, for some reason, no matter that it would be so much easier to just call him 'Duke') had been out, practicing sparring techniques. Well, not really sparring. Haru had really been out here to practice Eathbending, while Teo and the Duke watched, then, out of nowhere, the Duke jumped on his back, yelling something Haru wasn't even sure he wanted to understand. Amidst the laughter of a very unhelpful Teo, Haru had finally managed to pry off the kid, shoving him a good distance away from him, tempted to just Earthbend him into a nice little prison until he gained some semblance of sanity.
When he demanded the answer to a very reasonable question of, "What was that for?!" the Duke had just froze, eyes somewhere in the distance. Haru exchanged a very confused look with Teo, only watching as the Duke, a look of disbelief on his face, whistled sharply, sounding more like a bird than some birds Haru had seen.
"What's going on?" Teo asked softly, obviously thinking of an impending attack. They were in the woods on the cliff above the temple, cut off from the Avatar or any other means of defense other than the Duke's little spear and Haru's meager Earthbending abilities, which Toph Bei Fong put to shame on a daily basis. Haru sincerely hoped this wasn't anything bad.
"Sh!!" The Duke hissed, waving a tiny hand dismissively at them, seemingly annoyed at their interruption. Haru frowned, exchanging another glance with Teo.
What was going on?
--
Spirits curse it!
Letting out a yell of fury, Smellerbee launched after the animal as it scampered away, knowing there was no way she'd catch it. Still, it didn't stop her from flailing her arms at it like a drowning monkey-snake, the unfamiliar meat creature slipping through her fingers as she tumbled to the ground, landing hard on her chest plate.
Growling profanities that would make Jet proud, Smellerbee stood up and dusted herself off angrily, cheeks a little red in embarrassment.
Longshot had the uncanny knack of whistling at the most inopportune moments. Like when she was about to catch dinner, crouched low behind a bush. But no, he had to be all worried and dumb stuff like that and whistle loud enough to make her jump and give herself away! Stupid bush… Stupid meat creature… Stupid Longshot…
Smellerbee's fingers were already in her mouth, ready to tell Longshot just what she thought of his request for progress when another whistle cut through the air. She frowned, lips moving around the fingers still in her mouth. Had… There was no way Longshot had whistled twice, once in answer to himself… It sounded like the other whistle was requesting information, literally registering with her brain as: Freedom Fighters.
It could be a question, or an identification. But who? Mind reeling with thousands of possibilities, Smellerbee blew hard against her fingers, two sharp blasts.
Who?
--
This was getting interesting.
Longshot had already deduced that it wasn't Smellerbee, that Smellerbee had been the third whistle. No one but a Freedom Fighter would be able to decode their whistles, since Jet had come up with them himself and he was a genius. Longshot had already killed the hope that their mystery Freedom Fighter was Jet, he'd buried his leader himself, digging the hole under a tree far from Lake Laogai. It couldn't be Sneers either, Sneers never could master the higher pitched whistles, like this person. Same thing went for Pipqueak. So that left…
A fourth whistle jarred him from his thoughts, pulling him back into the situation. Longshot leaned forwards, shutting his eyes to better hear the whistle.
The Duke.
A smile broke out on Longshot's face, the hollow calculations of moments earlier giving way to pure, unbridled joy. The Duke… Longshot reached up, grabbing the branch above and leaning with most of his weight under that arm, eyes scanning the forest, trying to find the source of the whistles, trying to find the Duke.
Who?
Longshot had already answered the question before he consciously realized he was moving.
Longshot and Smellerbee.
They couldn't keep this up for much longer, Longshot knew. The whistles were nothing complex, mainly one or two word questions or answers. Two approaching, enemy, armed, not armed... That sort of thing, with a customized whistle for everyone's name. They needed to regroup, they needed to see each other face to face. They needed to tell each other everything that happened.
The Duke needed to know that Jet was gone.
That thought sobered the archer considerably, but he pushed it aside. There'd be time to dwell on the past later, time to go through it soon enough. Trying to remember the right whistle for what he wanted to convey, Smellerbee seemed to read his mind from far away.
Meet you at the Duke.
Longshot smiled, knowing he'd have to do little to pack up the "camp" he and Smellerbee had set up (he was already wearing all their "supplies" on his back, stuffed into an old bag they'd stolen from Ba Sing Se). Readjusting his bow onto his back in a more secured travel location, Longshot listened as the Duke described in excited whistles where he was.
Even cool and collected Longshot couldn't help but smile in anticipation as he swung down from his tree branch, moving surely through the trees in a run towards the Duke, towards his brother, towards a fellow Freedom Fighter.
This will be continued, hopefully soon. I'm getting a little impatient for Smellerbee and Lonshot to pop up again, and this is the result of said impatience. If they really killed off Jet, the least they could do is show Smellerbee and Longshot kicking some major butt against firebenders or something...